Add Ribbon Control In Outlook 2013 Using Outlook 2013 Add-in In Visual Studio

Here I am describing how to add ribbon control inside Outlook mail.

Step 1: Open Visual Studio 2013 and then click on Office Add-ins. After that click Outlook 2013 Add-in.

Step 2: Go to solution explorer and right click then add new items and new ribbon (XML).

ribbon

Step 3: Then write the same code inside XML file.

<ribbon>
<tabs>
<tab id="TabAddIns" label="My Ribbon">
<group id="Group1" label="Ribbon Options">
<button id="btnSettings" onAction="btnSettings_Click" imageMso="AdministrationHome" label="Settings" size="normal" />
<button id="btnHelp" onAction="btnHelp_Click" imageMso="Help" label="Get Help and Support" size="normal" /> </group>
<group id="Group2">
<button id="BtnMy" imageMso="HappyFace" onAction="BtnMy_Click" label="My Button" size="large" /> </group>
</tab>
<tab id="TabAddIns1" label="My Ribbon1">
<group id="Group11" label="Ribbon Options1">
<button id="btnSettings1" onAction="btnSettings_Click" imageMso="AdministrationHome" label="Settings" size="normal" />
<button id="btnHelp1" onAction="btnHelp_Click" imageMso="Help" label="Get Help and Support" size="normal" /> </group>
</tab>
</tabs>
</ribbon>

Step 4: Then go to ribbon.cs file and write the same code.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Office = Microsoft.Office.Core;
// TODO: Follow these steps to enable the Ribbon (XML) item:
// 1: Copy the following code block into the ThisAddin, ThisWorkbook, or ThisDocument class.
// protected override Microsoft.Office.Core.IRibbonExtensibility CreateRibbonExtensibilityObject()
// {
// return new MyRibbon();
// }
// 2. Create callback methods in the "Ribbon Callbacks" region of this class to handle user
// actions, such as clicking a button. Note: if you have exported this Ribbon from the Ribbon designer,
// move your code from the event handlers to the callback methods and modify the code to work with the
// Ribbon extensibility (RibbonX) programming model.
// 3. Assign attributes to the control tags in the Ribbon XML file to identify the appropriate callback methods in your code.
// For more information, see the Ribbon XML documentation in the Visual Studio Tools for Office Help.
namespace OutlookAddIn2
{
[ComVisible(true)]
public class MyRibbon: Office.IRibbonExtensibility
{
private Office.IRibbonUI ribbon;
public MyRibbon()
{}
public void btnSettings_Click(Office.IRibbonControl control)
{
MessageBox.Show("Settings ");
}
public void BtnMy_Click(Office.IRibbonControl control)
{
MessageBox.Show("MyButton ");
}
public void btnHelp_Click(Office.IRibbonControl control)
{
MessageBox.Show("Help ");
}#region IRibbonExtensibility Members
public string GetCustomUI(string ribbonID)
{
return GetResourceText("OutlookAddIn2.MyRibbon.xml");
}#endregion# region Ribbon Callbacks
//Create callback methods here. For more information about adding callback methods, visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=271226
public void Ribbon_Load(Office.IRibbonUI ribbonUI)
{
this.ribbon = ribbonUI;
}#endregion# region Helpers
private static string GetResourceText(string resourceName)
{
Assembly asm = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
string[] resourceNames = asm.GetManifestResourceNames();
for (int i = 0; i < resourceNames.Length; ++i)
{
if (string.Compare(resourceName, resourceNames[i], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) == 0)
{
using(StreamReader resourceReader = new StreamReader(asm.GetManifestResourceStream(resourceNames[i])))
{
if (resourceReader != null)
{
return resourceReader.ReadToEnd();
}
}
}
}
return null;
}#endregion
}
}

Step 5: Then build it and run the application.

After that all custom ribbon will be shown on top of the outlook mailbox.

Here I have described each line of the code plus posted all screenshots.

Please go through that and develop on your own.

5 Comments

Join the conversation! Your thoughts help the community grow.

Tran An9y ago
Hi, Ive tried your solution but the add-in is not showing in outlook. I can see that the add-in is installed. Can you advise what to do?
- Rajkiran Swain9y ago
  Can you please explain more about it . what the steps you followed ?
- Tran An9y ago
  Hi, the solution was found here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/42626342/custom-outlook-add-in-is-not-showing
Shobana J10y ago
Good one
- Rajkiran Swain9y ago
  Thanks Shobana J ..